In 2008, VA’s Mental Health Services established a suicide surveillance and clinical support system based on reports of suicide and suicide events (i.e. non-fatal attempts, serious suicide ideation, suicide plan) submitted by Suicide Prevention Coordinators located at each VA Medical Center and large outpatient facility. In addition to information obtained from suicide behavior reports, data on the characteristics and outcomes of callers to the national toll-free Veterans Crisis Line – a universally available crisis intervention resource – are available. In 2010, the VA also began an intensive effort to shorten delays associated with access to NDI data and increase understanding of suicide among all Veterans by developing data sharing agreements with all 50 U.S. states. The integration of information collected through the NDI, state mortality records, Suicide Behavior Reports, Veterans Crisis Line, and the VA’s universal electronic medical records contribute to an increased understanding of suicide and risk management by identifying gaps in existing knowledge, opportunities for intervention and the impact of VA-sponsored suicide prevention programs.

All of these data collection systems have matured to the point where they can now begin to provide VA with information that can be used to both determine if the current suicide prevention program is having an effect, where gaps may occur, and provide direction for the future. This reports is an initial attempt to look at all of this information together in order to provide an overall picture of Veteran suicide to drive suicide prevention program development and improve outcomes for Veterans at risk for suicide. It is expected that reporting will be refined as time goes on and more data become available. This report contains a systematic overview of data obtained from the State Mortality Project, Suicide Behavior Reports for fiscal years 2009 – 2012, and Veterans Crisis Line.

Having begun his career in academic libraries, Adrian Janes has subsequently worked extensively in public libraries, chiefly in enquiry work as an Information Services librarian. In this role he has had particular responsibility for information from both the UK Government and the European Union. He wrote a detailed report on sources for the latter which was published by FreePint in 2007, and has contributed articles to FreePint and ResourceShelf. He is involved in training in information literacy and the use of online reference resources.

A Contributing Editor to DocuTicker, he also write reviews for Pennyblackmusic.

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